Art Director
San Francisco or remote
ClassDojo’s mission is to give every child on Earth an education they love.
We started by building a network that connects teachers, children, and families. ClassDojo’s flagship app is the #1 communication app connecting K-8 teachers, children, and families, globally. They use it to share what’s happening throughout the day through photos, videos, messages, and activities. It is actively used at an unprecedented scale: in over 95% of US schools, reaching ~51 million children in ~180 countries. We are now beginning to use this network to give kids the best learning experiences in the world, far beyond those a standard school can provide.
We hire for talent density. Our team comprises the most talented, entrepreneurial, and innovative teammates from around the world, with deep backgrounds in education and large scale consumer internet, including Instagram, Netflix, Dropbox, Uber, Y Combinator, and more. We’re building a company where the most talented people want to work. We believe you’ll do the best work of your life here—and you’ll pioneer the future of education, too.
What you’ll do:
As an Art Director at ClassDojo, you will help to define a world-class artistic vision and visual quality for the game product. You will be an inspirational catalyst for the art team while fostering a culture of communication, collaboration, and autonomy. You will be a key collaborator with the design, product and engineering departments. You will leverage your expertise in visual development and world-building to help craft immersive and engaging player experiences. You will produce top-quality visuals such as mood boards, art bibles, schemas, key art, and other visuals that help uphold the look of the game product with internal and external partners.
- Provide strong artistic vision to communicate game design ideas and features to stakeholders.
- Create style guides and schemas for art content, and document the art values of the project.
- Build an experienced and efficient art team to shape the gameplay experience.
- Oversee the development of visuals, including character art, environment art, animations, and key art for marketing.
- Provide feedback about visuals to other departments such as UI/UX and Marketing, and be a sounding board for other departments, such as the gameplay team.
- When needed, give feedback to external partners to deliver art assets to spec and ensure consistency of quality.
- Help grow and mentor the internal art team through high value 1:1s and feedback sessions.
- Promote an inclusive work environment and help build the team through participation in the interview process for new team members.
You will be a match if:
- You have 5+ years as an Art Director or Lead Artist and have 2 shipped AAA or mobile titles.
You might be a good fit if:
- You have demonstrated experience in art directing the delivery of 2D and 3D game art for shipped titles from the planning phases through live operations.
- Experience in Adobe Photoshop and industry standard 3D tools like Maya or Zbrush.
- You have prior experience in Online and Social gaming spaces.
- You have an exceptional eye for composition, lighting, color, and mood.
- You want to understand the game design goals and seek ways to support these goals and solve problems using your deep artistic knowledge.
- You can quickly create paintovers to communicate ideas and feedback to a variety of audiences including non-artists.
- You can provide clear and candid artistic direction, both verbally and in writing.
- You are familiar with the technical limitations of modern art pipelines and game engines.
- You are able to work effectively with cross-functional teams, both locally and remotely.
- You have strong concern for the user’s experience, and want to make the best experience possible.
Bonus:
- You have a passion for building immersive experiences for kids.
[1] Some more context:
- ClassDojo’s 125m Metaverse Mission (Forbes)
- ClassDojo’s Second Act Comes with First Profits (TechCrunch) and Sam’s note about it.
ClassDojo is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. ClassDojo is an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, age, or any other legally protected status. ClassDojo will make reasonable accommodations for the known physical and mental limitations of an otherwise qualified individual with a disability who is an applicant or an employee unless undue hardship would result. In accordance with applicable local ordinances, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.